Today the Wiwi Jury – our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — travelled to Moscow to visit our friend Sergey Lazarev and his beautiful dog. After spending hours on end gawking at his biceps, we decided to calm down by reviewing the entry for Russia at Junior Eurovision 2017, “Wings” by Polina Bogusevich. Are Polina’s wings made to fly to the top of the scoreboard? Read on to find out…
Russia’s Junior Eurovision 2017 song
“Wings” reviews – Polina Bogusevich
Antony: Russia never fails to impress at JESC and this song is certainly no exception. Polina has an impactful voice and with this combined with the song evokes emotion. The interpretive dancers add a nice touch to the song and if used on the night, it will elevate the song and its meaningful message to the next level.
Score: 9/10
Bernardo: It’s extremely difficult to criticize a song for being too mature when it is done so tastefully. That’s the case of “Wings”. The slick production level that surrounds the track is combined with Polina’s vocal range and control. Girl can belt it out! It is – with no doubt – the song with the best lyrics. Everything works here.
Score: 10/10
Josh: This is the kind of Junior Eurovision entry that excites me. Right from the start, we are met with this sort of drum-and-bass-esque beat and then bam, Polina’s vocal comes through and blows me away. The last chorus gives me chills. Polina’s ability to emote through her voice is absolutely outstanding. And to explore such a topical subject at a young age is to be commended. Absolutely brilliant.
Score: 10/10
Luis: Ok, if Russia finishes fourth again I don’t know what else they can do in this contest. Just when you think this song is going to be another drum-and-bass tune in the style of Melfest’s Nano, then Polina’s gorgeous voice brings a warm power ballad. It’s amazing to see how she belts it out in every chorus and with what ease she can go from almost muttering to hitting all the big notes. This girl is a prodigy!
Score: 9/10
Robyn: Russia delivers. “Wings” is a sophisticated pop ballad, given a flawless vocal from Polina. Even the key change doesn’t feel too cloying — and given how dramatic the song is, it makes sense. The only weakness is perhaps the English language section. Honestly, the song would be as strong without it. But by the time the song comes along with the gorgeous harmonies of the ending, all is forgiven.
Score: 9/10
William: Polina may be young, but she understands drama and art. The visual treatment she’s given her song in the music video suggests she and her team have big ambitions for Tbilisi. Thankfully she’s also got the big voice to back that up. The girl can sing! The song is a slightly different matter: for my tastes, it’s a tad too shouty and the chorus more shrill than melodic. But live Polina can bring magic and undo those concerns.
Score: 7/10
Our jury for 2017 consists of 20 jurors, but we only have room for 6 reviews. The remaining 14 scores are listed below.
Angus: 9.5/10
Antranig: 9/10
Chris: 8.5/10
Cinan: 5.5/10
Deban: 5.5/10
Jonathan: 9/10
Jordi: 9/10
Jovana: 9.5/10
Marek: 9.5/10
Mario: 7/10
Natalie: 7.5/10
Renske: 10/10
Rezo: 10/10
Sebastian: 6.5/10
The highest and lowest scores are dropped prior to calculating the average score. This is to remove outliers and reduce potential bias. We have removed a low of 5.5 and a high of 10.
“Are Polina’s wings made to fly to the top of the scoreboard? Read on to find out…”
I do not agree, read https://heavy.com/social/2016/10/best-warm-winter-coats-for-women-jackets-brand-brand-2/
Best regards, Ginette
It does sound a bit too much of vocals and drums for relatively simple and gentle melody. Sometimes contrast works, sometimes it doesn’t, here it makes me wanna gaze at lyrics more than listen. I feel it’s rather good effort, though I’m not a fan of song and ‘styling’, it becomes pretty boring already for couple of years listen to Sia-hits-inspired production that worked for her still mostly because of heavy anguished-to-degree vocals. Where’s an anguish here then?
6/10. Definitely good video, I think they may use some choreo from it (kid fixed).
love the song and the girl is really pretty!
Potential winner. Its Sia-esque. With the right staging it can reach a very high position.
I really hope the staging will be similar to Hungary 2014’s staging!
It’s surely an incredible song and deserves to go high on the list. My only concern is that the subject may be to heavy for JESC. =-O
Anyway, one of the best and good luck Polina. B-)
here is the 2017 stage so far
I’m worried it looks like Malta 2016
I was hoping for a stage like 2014 or 2015
This is my personal favourite. I hope they do well. ?
I like it, but not enough to “love” it, ya see? But I can imagine this doing really good. A 7 from me.
Russia are incredible, as always. They’ve got some serious competition, but I think they are the most likely to win, followed by Georgia.
screaming girl with pretentious sia dancer music video, sure the jury members might be impressed but the show isn’t for them
I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like this. She isn’t bad (though her vocals do need some work), but the song itself is just too dull for me.
Not a fan at all, I liked Water of life so much but not this. Too screamy, shouty, overly dramatic. But it will probably win because of the silly voting system.
This song sounds like a Sia song with those dramatic high notes.
Sounds and looks like Sia’s work.
Definitely influenced by her.. These Russians don’t even tried to hide it.
..didn’t try..*